Searing, startling, powerful, beautiful! I am stunned by this book! Mary Willette Hughes has distilled the shattering experience of sexual abuse perpetrated upon her son and her family by someone in religious authority. Fiercely honest, these poems are also reflections on trust, faith, and beauty in the face of profound betrayal. These finely made poems express the intense feelings of a mother whose child must struggle with the damaging effects of sexual abuse and her relationship to the grown adult the violated child becomes. This unique book offers a deeply authentic healing journey with expert guidance provided in the therapeutic use of these poems through the techniques of poetry therapy. - John Fox, CPT, author ofPoetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-making, past president, National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT)